Agricultural Museum of Cairo – Bread of Egypt
Imagine a midsized museum in Canada. Well that would be only one building in an
enclave of 10 buildings, or what might be considered subsidiary museums, that make up
the agricultural museum that we visited today. Situated in the heart of downtown Cairo,
just off the banks of the Nile, the museum was built during the period of King Farouk
during the 1930’s and was the first museum of this kind in the world. I was most
impressed by the size and scope of this historic site. The museum grounds cover about
125 thousand square meters. More than 15% of this space is occupied with gardens.
Interestingly, Egyptian families use these gardens as a play ground and picnic area. They
also come to the museum to reconnect with their agricultural heritage, which has played a
major role in the Egyptian way of life since prehistoric times. We saw many children
running excitedly from room to room taking in the diverse sights and information that the
museum has to offer. Examples of some of the things that are found inside the museum
include statues displaying Egyptian farm jobs, information on prevalent diseases in the
Egyptian countryside and means of dealing with them, samples of all kinds of fruit and
vegetables, and an entire display attributed to medicinal and aromatic plants. Field crops
including grain crops, oil-producing crops, and sugar crops are also displayed.
I was amazed to learn that an entire wing of one of the buildings is dedicated to bread,
which includes information about bread in Egypt since ancient times and exhibits all
kinds of bread that Egyptians eat from different regions. I quickly came to realize why
this was so. Also known as Aish in Arabic, bread is the staple of the Egyptian diet. From
the most ancient of times to the present, Egyptians eat bread with almost every meal.
Made with plain or whole meal flour, the bread is baked to form a pocket and soft crust
similar to what we know as pita bread in Canada. It is cooked over an open flame in
bakeries and sold everywhere including street corners. Interestingly, bread also acts as a
substitute for forks and spoons. Traditionally locals will use bread to scoop up dips or
they will rip off a small piece of bread and use it to wrap around morsels of meat. I tried
using this technique for lunch at a local Cairo eatery. My meal, which is called baba
ghanoug in Arabic consisted of mashed eggplant mixed with tomato and onion and was
served piping hot. It has a delicious smoky taste. Unfortunately it took a few tries before I
was able to get used to eating without cutlery and so I ended up wearing most of my
lunch! Through trial and many errors, however, I eventually learned the technique that
seems to be used to carry out what appears (at a first glace) to be a simple process.
Visiting the agricultural museum was an interesting and informative experience. It taught
me a lot about agriculture’s ancient and continuing importance to Egyptian life. If the old
adage ‘variety is the spice of life’ is true then the cornucopia of bread selections for the
Egyptian palate makes for a truly well seasoned diet.